Home
Scholarly Works
Adult fruit fly attraction to larvae biases...
Journal article

Adult fruit fly attraction to larvae biases experience and mediates social learning

Abstract

We investigated whether adult fruit flies (Drosophila melanogaster) use cues of larvae as social information in their food patch choice decisions. Adult male and female fruit flies showed attraction to odours emanating from foraging larvae, and females preferred to lay eggs on food patches occupied by larvae over similar unoccupied patches. Females learned and subsequently preferred to lay eggs at patches with novel flavours previously associated with feeding larvae over patches with novel flavours previously associated with no larvae. However, when we controlled for the duration of exposure to each flavoured patch, females no longer preferred the flavour previously associated with feeding larvae. This suggests that social learning in this context is indirect, as a result of strong social attraction biasing experience.

Authors

Durisko Z; Anderson B; Dukas R

Journal

Journal of Experimental Biology, Vol. 217, No. 7, pp. 1193–1197

Publisher

The Company of Biologists

Publication Date

April 1, 2014

DOI

10.1242/jeb.097683

ISSN

0022-0949
View published work (Non-McMaster Users)

Contact the Experts team